Midnight Brisket

[tgrier]

I just put a 14# brisket on the smoker.
Looking forward to good eats tomorrow.

I use this smoker which is a gas smoker. I have used several smokers over the years and this little smoker can produce quality and repeatable results very easily and it was pretty cheap!
I will post more pics of the finished product tomorrow.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Damn! Im smoking a 5lb brisket on mesquite right now. My first smoke ever. I have another 2hrs- 6hr smoke 180/190 degrees being basted with a Butter/garlic mix

I didnt have dry rub so I marinated it in Balsamic vinigar 1/4cup and Liptons onion soup/Beef broth. Hope it turns out well.

 

[tgrier]

Sounds awesome.

I personally like a dry rub.. .but I think yours sounds excellent as well.

Let me know how it turns out.
What type of smoker are you using?

Are you really in AK?

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Using a chargriller with a side firebox

Yep I love AK. Just about the most beautiful place I have ever been

 

[MikeFlynn74]

I was gonna post a pic but I cant find the damn cable for my cam

 

[tgrier]

Here are some pics of the get together to enjoy the Midnight Brisket.
It was awesome. I made a fresh sauce and boiled some corn out on my outdoor burners and we ate outside. No homebrew ready at the moment - wish I had some of my pale ale or hefe for this day.. but o well. The crawfish Boil put drained my pipeline of brew.

 

[Alamo_Beer]

Hey tgrier can we be friends?

Hey Mike, I JUST got that pit/smoker for graduation....I used it for burgers and whatnot this weekend but I've yet to actually smoke anything in it....soon to come!

 

[Focus]

Using a chargriller with a side firebox

Yep I love AK. Just about the most beautiful place I have ever been

That's my baby and I swear by it. It's a little high maintainence in that the temp regulation is a challenge, plus it's obviously hotter on the right side than the left. So I have to be careful about moving the meat around, so to speak, to keep it even. And of course, whenever you open it you lose all your heat and smoke.

To me, that's just part of barbequeing, though. A Labor of love.

Ideally, I'd like to have a stone/masonry pit with fire boxes on left, right and rear sides so the heat would be even everywhere in the chamber. Haven't found a commercially available / transportable one that's made like this, thought. I'm guessing I'll have to build one...

Focus

 

[MikeFlynn74]

yea I really need to work on figuring out how to use it. My brisket was ok but not something I would even buy. hrmm...

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

We have a CharGriller too. Can't complain about the price- got it off Craigslist for $35.

The best advice I can give so far to a novice (we've only smoked a few times ourselves) is to not worry so much about the temps. Make sure it sits in there smoking like crazy at a low-ish temp for at least 4 hours. Then, take the internal temp and decide if you have all day, or if you want to just toss it in the oven to finish up. Sacrilege, I know, but it was 8pm when we started and I needed to be up early the next morning. 4 hours in the smoker though really gave it a GREAT smoked flavor. We missed out on a bit of the tenderness, but again, we could've slow cooked in the oven too if we'd wanted.

I think I'm going to move the the larger blocks of hardwood for smoking, I think it'll work out better than the charcoals. We'll see. But, to add one more dimension, SWMBO wanted to start the smoker, so she kinda threw out the amassed wisdom I'd gained from the last three times smoking, so in a sense it was 2 steps forward, 1 step back. I'm looking forward to my first start-to-finish chunk of meat on that smoker.

Tonight we just picked up a 20 ounce salmon, some tilapia, sole, and some other fish and some scallops. I think the scallops are going to be wrapped in bacon, fried, and slathered in butter. But the rest of the fish (and some meat we have around) is definitely up for grabs...

 

[tgrier]

Alamo Beer -

Dude anytime you are in Austin let me know. We can drink some beer and cook. I usually try to smoke something (brisket or pork butt) once a month during the summer. Plus ribs, or tri tip or pork loin on the grill.

As to other posts about cooking temps and times.
My personal belief is that temp is VERY important in smoking.
I have used a couple of smokers like the one listed above and I finally went with the gas smoker - cheap and consistent. --- now is it the "egg" but no means - which I hear and have seen a lot of great things about... but for 125$ .. I can set it and leave it and it burns very small amount of LP. I left that brisket on for 14 hours and man it was good.

Temp/Fire control is key IMHO

T

 

[TronCarter]

Hey T,

That brisket looks delicious. Your regular grill looks kind of like my new Char Broil Pro. For some reason I was in a spending mood and bought the Quantum with Infrared heat. So far I have made pork loin, ribs, sirloin steaks, brats and some burgers. I am wondering if you would be willing to share your sauce recipe. So far I have been using the bottled stuff and it gets you by, but is by no means the best.

Tron

 

[JnJ]

Mmmmm you guys are making me hungry. I have the chargriller too and am disappointed with it. It's good for direct heat grilling a lot of food at once, but for slow cooking it just doesn't maintain temps. I do my buston butts on the ol' weber kettle, that thing is the best bang for the buck. But, that gas smoker looks like the ticket for brisket. I may have to get me one. I do all the small quick stuff on the JenAir stainless ($$$ but worth it).
Just did a bunch of sausage, ribs, and korean ribs this past weekend. BTW, how warm was it in Austin? It's to frickin' hot to eat outside here is SA!

 

[Rhoobarb]

I do a lot of brisket. It takes some practice to get it right. There is some good info here, but I disagree on some points. Here's my two cents:

Using foil, otherwise known as the Texas Crutch, is no sin. In fact, some prize winners do it all the time. Brisket can only really absorb ~3-4 hours of smoke (depending on the size of the brisket). After that, I loosely wrap it in foil and allow it to cook. If time is short, I can always finish it off in the oven.

I also use Worcestershire sauce first, then mustard, then a dry rub. I use a standard BBQ rub, but first add an extra amount of fresh cracked black pepper. Wrap the prepped meat in plastic and refrigerate overnight. Allow it to come to room temp before placing it on the smoker. I also use pellets instead or wood and use a drip pan for those first few hours, but that's personal preference. After it has gone for a few hours, I'll spray it with apple juice from time to time to keep it moist and give it a nice sheen.

 

[Lukus]

I just put a 14# brisket on the smoker.
Looking forward to good eats tomorrow.

I use this smoker which is a gas smoker. I have used several smokers over the years and this little smoker can produce quality and repeatable results very easily and it was pretty cheap!
I will post more pics of the finished product tomorrow.

I have the same smoker and love it. It holds the temp. great. I've smoked Salmon, Chicken, and Port Butt on it. Next on the list BRISKET!!!

 

[tooomanycolors]

So I have an electric smoker (new smoker thread) which was an unfortunate restriction (wooden apt building). Anyway is there a certain 'cut' of brisket I should get or are they all the same? I know noob question.

 

[AnonyBrew]

I usually just get one that's been trimmed already. A brisket is a brisket, however there are 2 ends & sometimes I see the flat cut sold on its own. I do these sometimes when I don't have all day to smoke a full one.